|
|
|
|
The Gospel of John, The Period of Conference, Chapters 12:36b-13:30, Transition, , Part I, John 12:34-43 - Lesson 109
Read Verses John 12:34-36, for review, The people answered him, We have heard out of the law that Christ abideth for ever: and how sayest thou, The Son of man must be lifted up? who is this Son of man? Then Jesus said unto them, Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth. While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light. These things spake Jesus, and departed, and did hide himself from them.
He says: While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light.
This is such simple instruction.
He says take advantage of the light.
You are children of light, so don't walk in darkness.
Reckon yourself dead unto sin and alive unto Christ.
The light is there to show you the way.
Believe in the light. Trust in the light.
That ye may be the children of light.
Make your testimony pure by walking in the light.
Show yourself as followers of the light by your walk, by your following the light.
Christians can walk in dim light by being distant from the light.
Christians can walk in the shadow of the light by not being in the center of God's will where the light is the brightest.
Christians can choose to let the light guide their way through life.
Or they can choose to live on the fringes of the light and constantly have difficulty seeing the way.
The history of the Jewish people shows that they rejected this instruction in truth, by Truth himself.
They rejected the Father, now they reject the Son and then they rejected the Spirit.
They persist in unbelief today by holding to the traditions of their religion.
Jesus Christ had preached to them, he had done miracles in their midst.
He had conducted his total ministry in the land promised to their father Abraham.
These people had opportunities granted to none other.
What was the result of this careful, love filled effort on the part of the Son of God?
He departed, and did hide himself from them, John tells us.
What woeful words to read; that the Lord Jesus Christ hid himself from them!
The Lord has called them a stiff-necked people throughout the Old Testament and they have not changed to this day.
Their necks remain stiff.
They have not applied the balm of Gilead to their necks and they remain stiff.
They have made their necks incapable of turning toward Jesus Christ the Messiah sent from the Father.
Their necks are faced in a direction of their own making as they await a Messiah of their own making.
In him will they trust. Because they reject the Light as we are told in:
2 Thess. 2:11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: (or The Lie)
There is always a consequence to unbelief.
Unbelief cannot be without an effect resulting from that unbelief.
God does not allow unbelief without consequence!
John 12:37, But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him:
John emphasizes the many miracles that Jesus Christ had done in their midst.
The Gospels record 36 miracles but the writers record that Jesus performed many more miracles than those mentioned.
He performed miracle after miracle, day after day.
He showed his deity in countless ways.
He showed his Lordship over all kinds of sicknesses, over evil spirits, he controlled the wind, he walked on the sea, he turned water to wine, he revealed the secret thoughts of men and raised the dead.
And yet unbelief!
Unbelief was their system!
It was nurtured, it was fed, it was cherished, it was promoted, it was fostered.
It was so engrained in their hearts as to shut out the bright focused light of Jesus Christ.
They had so hardened their heart, they had a practiced hard heart, that truth, that light was completely shut out.
Their will was set against truth.
John 12:38-41, That the saying of Esaias the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath believed our report? and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed? Therefore they could not believe, because that Esaias said again, He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them. These things said Esaias, when he saw his glory, and spake of him.
Jesus Christ had revealed the arm of the Lord to Israel in all its strength.
The light had shown brightly in all its glory in Israel.
But it would be effective only to those who had eyes to see and ears to hear.
All others could not believe because truth blinded their eyes and truth hardened their heart so they could not they see with their eyes nor could they understand with their heart.
Truth does that. Light does that if rejected. It blinds.
It causes hardness to be harder.
It causes unbelief to be greater unbelief and darker unbelief.
Those who run from the light run to darkness and to deeper darkness like a cockroach runs from the light.
And the brighter the light the faster the roach runs to the darkness.
The light blinds the eyes of those who walk in darkness just as a light turned on in the middle of the night blinds the eyes of the sleeper.
And the sleeper yells to turn out the light so he may continue his sleep in darkness!
Unbelief walks in darkness and wishes to continue in darkness.
So truth blinds the ear and stops the ear. (How about the child that stops up their ear so they do not have to hear instruction?)
John 12:42,43 Nevertheless among the chief rulers also many believed on him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue: For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.
Jesus said in John 12:26 if any man serve me him will my Father honor.
He also said in John 5:44, How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only?
In others words true belief in Jesus Christ includes in it a seeking of honor that comes from God.
It includes in it a desire to serve Jesus Christ in the pureness of his word.
We see in John 12:42 that many believed on him but they did not confess him.
Confession of Jesus Christ reveals true belief in him.
John in 1 John 4:15 says that: Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.
So it appears that among the chief rulers many believed on him but their belief was confined to reason and logic but lacked faith.
Their belief did not include submission to Jesus Christ and without submission there is no confession of Jesus Christ.
They honestly looked and examined the words and works of Jesus Christ.
They found him to match up with what the Messiah should be but they could go no further than reason could bring them.
They refused to take the hand of faith and come to Jesus Christ and confess him as their Lord and Saviour.
We are told that they loved their position and their power more than they loved God.
For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.
They loved the synagogue, they loved their relationships, they loved their friends, they loved the esteem of men.
What would people think if I went after this man?
How can I explain this to my wife, my children, my father?
They sacrificed the permanent on the altar of the immediate.
They sought first the praise of men because it was near, it was an object which they could perceive with the eye.
They loved the pride of life which their station brought them.
Therefore they refused the sight of the spiritual eye, that which revealed what was distant and seen only through the eye of faith; the eye that reveals the permanent.
They brought the permanent to the altar of the immediate and there it was slain because they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.
They received honor one of another, and sacrificed the honor that only comes from God.
There is nothing new under the sun.
The same crew, the same crowd is in the visible church today.
They believe but they do not confess.
Their faith is not a confessing faith and therefore not a saving faith. |